Knuckles: Dark Horizon
by Phoenix Ride
Summary: Sequel! There's a war brewing between the Brotherhood and the Dark Legion with Sonic and co stuck right in the middle. But all this fighting equals disaster when the Master Emerald goes on a rampage. Will Knuckles be able to stop it? Find out! Read
1. Chapter 1: Enter: The Dark Legion

**Knuckles: Dark Horizon**

**By: Phoenix Ride**

**Ch.1: Enter: The Dark Legion**

Weeks passed since Sonic recovered from the attack of the now beaten Nazo, and now everything seemed once again at peace. Well, peaceful in one sense of the term. There was the ocassional attack by Dr. Eggman, but his plans seemed like a nuisiance ever since Knuckles birthday. A birthday that the Guardian of the Master Emerald would never want to remember again.

Knuckles had been so pleased when Sonic and the others got a wishing crystal for his birthday. He knew that the crystal possessed enough magic to tell him truth on what really happened to his kind. But the wish turned into a distaster, bringing forth a silver being called Nazo, who almost destroyed the world.

Luckily Knuckles made it so Nazo never exsisted by changing the past. That also meant the silver hedgehog never destroyed his race. But coming back to the future his kind was not there, and Sonic had been terribly injured during the battle. Now the echidna just sat on the Master Emerald's alter, dreaming about his kind, and wondering if the wishing crystal had finished it's job.

"Aw" said Knuckles, breathing in the fresh air " it's nice to be back on the alter again. The Chaotix deserve a day off after what I put them through a few weeks ago,"

Suddenly, the echidna's super hearing detected a strange sound making him stand up striaght in alert. Looking left and right Knuckles saw nothing unusal until a barradge of laser beams fired his way.

The echidna dodged and ran into the forest making as much noise as he could to lure the ones shooting at him away from the Master Emerald's alter. Taking a shortcut to the cabin Knuckles went inside and quickly locked the door.

"Who's shooting at me?" thought Knuckles " well it's to late to find out right now. I need to keep whoever they are from getting the Master Emerald,"

Quickly the echidna hastly searched the cabin looking through all the drawer's until he finaly found what he was looking for, a warp crystal. Warp crystals were really rare to find, it was very fortunate that Knuckles had found about three of them during one of his treasure hunts and now their powers would be put to the test.

"Warp me to where my enemies are," said Knuckles to the first wishing crystal.

The crystal glowed and transported Knuckles to a clearing on Angel Island where it wasn't so clear anymore. Mysterious figures in black cloaks had set up camp in the clearing, about two dozen or more.

Sneaking closer to the camp, but keeping in the shadows, Knuckles crept up to where two mysterious figures were talking. He couldn't see their faces but he could hear their words.

" I can't believe we're hunting one of our own," said the first figure.

" He's not one of us" said the second figure, in an almost angry tone " he's a Guardian, and that's all that matters to Lord Dimitri,"

"Rumors floating around says that this Guardian is no ordinary Guardian," said the first figure.

" Don't be so foolish Julie-Su" said the second figure " even if what we overheard between that idiot Remington and Locke are true, he's still no match for the Dark Legion,"

"Locke?" thought Knuckles as the two figures walked away " so my father and the other echidnas are alive. I did succeed in getting rid of Nazo. But if these guys are echdinas too, why do they want me?"

Curious for answers Knuckles creeped around camp looking for the group's apparent head honcho Dimitri. It wasn't to hard to guess where Dimitri had to be. After all the biggest tent in the camp usually belonged to the leader.

"Now" said Knuckles to himself " time to find out what this guy wants with me,"

"Hey you" came a voice from behind Knuckles " put your hands up and surrender now,"

Knuckles turned around quickly to see another figure in a black cloak holding a gun to his head. Knuckles raised up his hands like he was told, but then surprised his enmey by sweeping his feet out from under him.

The Dark Legionarre landed on hard on his back his finger accidentally pulling the trigger on his gun as he went down. The shot screamed by Knuckles leg leaving a fresh cut as he bounded right in the middle of the Dark Legion's camp.

Soon Knuckles found himself surrounded by a hoard of black cloaks all aiming weapons at him as he ran and dove towards safety. Watching from the safety of the woods a brown echidna saw Knuckles struggling to escape from the hands of the dark legion.

The red echidna was doing remarkably well, that is until the Dark Legion threw a glowing blue net over him preventing Knuckles attempt to escape.

"Take him to Dimitri!" shouted one Dark Legionarre, and soon Knuckles was being dragged away to Dimitri's tent.

Having just witnessed the horrifying seen from the shadows of the trees the brown echidna lifted up his wrist com to his mouth and started to speak.

"This is Remington reporting to the Brotherhood" said Remington " looks like our suspicions have been confirmed. The Dark Legoin has invaded Angel Island, and they got Knuckles,"


	2. Chapter 2: Say Uncle

**Ch.2: Say "Uncle"**

An hour later the Chaotix arrived back on Angel Island with some fresh supplies in hand.

"It was good to get the day off" said Vector, carrying two bags of groceries " but it is kind of nice to be back on Angel Island again,"

" I just hope Knuckles likes the surprise meal we have in for him," said Charmy, carrying another bag.

" Somehow I don't think he is going to enjoy it," said Espio stopping in his tracks.

"What's wrong Espio?" asked Vector, putting the bags of groceries down so he could see.

The alligator's mouth opened in shock at the sight that lay before him. Angel Island was totally trashed. Trees were toppled over, dirt lay upturned, and scorch marks tainted the land.

"Forget lunch" said Vector running in the direction of the Master Emerald's alter and thier cabin " we have to check on Knuckles!"

Seconds later the Chaotix reached the alter only to be ambushed with laser fire by bunch a figures in black cloaks. Rather run than get blasted the Chaotix headed to the safety of the woods with the unknown assialiants chasing them from behind.

"These guys chasing us are pretty fast," said Vector.

" And they have pretty good aim too," said Espio barely dodging a laser blast.

"But who are they?" said Charmy " and what have they done to Knuckles?"

"We'll never find that out until we get away from them!" said Vector.

Suddenly a voice stopped them in thier tracks.

"Here, this way," said the voice.

Better than nothing the Chaotix followed the mysterious voice through the woods until they all arrived at a sandy clearing. With the tree shadows cast aside the Chaotix got their first real look at thier rescuer and were surprised to find out that he was looked almost exactly like Knuckles, except he was brown not red.

"Come" said the strange echidna " follow me. The Dark Legoin isn't to far behind,"

Curious the Chaotix followed the echidna through a fiery forcefield and found themselves in a building where even more echidnas were found.

"Welcome to Haven" said the brown echidna " my name's Remington, and these other guys belong to the Brotherhood,"

"Look pal" said Vector, his voice growling in anger " we had a strange day. Who were those black guys chasing us? What is this place? And where is Knuckles?!"

"If you'll calm down we'll explian everything" said Spectre, entering the room " Knuckles is in great danger, there's no telling what the Dark Legoin will do,"

"Wait" said Espio " I don't we're the only ones you need to inform about what's going on here. Is it alright if we bring some of our friends from the surface to hear about this? If Knuckles is in as much danger than you insist Sonic and the others would want to know about it,"

"Very well" said Spectre " I will see to it that your friends get here without running into the Legion. Remington, help me warm up the teleporting beams,"

As the two echidnas left nothing else could be expressed by the Chaotix but amazment.

"Just another normal day in the universe, isn't it?" said Vector.

* * *

Meanwhile, Knuckles found himself painfully waking up in strange metal facility. The red echdina could feel his head throbbing with every moment, he could his legs easily, but his arms were chained to the cieling.

"Where am I?" thought Knuckles " am I still on Angel Island? What did those cloaked freaks do to me?"

"Ah" came a nasty voice sneering as two male echidnas and two females entered the room " the prodigal son is awake,"

These were strange echidnas indeed Knuckles noticed, and not just because of their fashion statements. The most disturbing thing of all was that most parts of thier flesh was actually metal.

"Why have you invaded my Island?" spat Knuckles " and what are you doing here?"

"Ah" the male echidna in the middle, obivously what the other Legoinarre's called Lord Dimitri " so rude. It isn't nice to demand answers without first learning your hosts names,"

"I'm Kasmir," said the evil-looking female echidna from Dimtri's right.

"Julie-Su," said the pink echidna from Dimitri's left.

"Xenin," said the almost fully cyberkeynetic echidna from behind Julie-Su.

"And I'm Lord Dimitri" said Dimitri " leader of the Dark Legoin, and your uncle,"

To that Knuckles laughed, at first caturping the Dark Legoinarre's by surprise, then making the robotic echidnas expressions darken.

"What is so funny?" demanded Xenin.

" I don't have an uncle" said Knuckles " I don't even have parents anymore, and even if my parents are alive, where are they? I haven't seen any other echidnas on this island for years, your the first ones I know,"

Knuckles felt himself grinning in his own mind when the Dark Legionarre's looked at him and then at each other in shock. The red echidna knew that his plan was risky, but he had to get these guys to trust him no matter what.

A quiet conference was called as the four echidnas on the ground huddled in chattering about what to do with thier prisoner.

"This boy has been isolated so long" said Xenin " I doubt Locke even told him about us or the Brotherhood,"

"If that's the case" said Kasmir " then it should be easy to mold him into being one of us,"

"I don't know" said Julie-Su, looking up at Knuckles " it sounds risky. We don't know what kind of power he holds,"

"Indeed" said Dimitri, breaking the quiet conference " Xenin, take the Guardian into the inner chambers of the base for testing. Then we'll see what we can do about molding his mind,"


	3. Chapter 3: The Great Escape

**Ch.3: The Great Escape**

Back at Haven Spectre and Remington had fufilled the Chaotix's request and transported Sonic, Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Shadow to the Brotherhood base. Confusion wasn't lost among the group when they joined the Chaotix and the Brotherhood in the briefing room.

"Well I guess Knuckles kind aren't so dead after all," said Rouge.

" I just want to know what's going on here," demanded Amy.

" Very well" said Hawk, the only other echidna in the room, besides Remington, with a hat " but I think it would be better if I let Locke explian,"

As Locke stood up a sudden realization surged in Shadow's mind.

"You're Knuckles father?" said Shadow.

"I am" said Locke, looking at the black hedgehog " but how did you know?"

" Your diary" said Shadow " Knuckles showed it to me one time. Interesting story, but not very informative on why you had to leave Knuckles behind,"

" The Ancient Walkers" said Locke, answering Shadow's silent question " but why I left isn't the important thing right now. What's important is the matter that my son is now a prisoner of the Dark Legion,"

"Who is this Dark Legion?" asked Sonic.

"The Dark Legion" said Remington " is an orginazation of rouge echidnas that favor technology above all else. Thier leader is Dimitri,"

"So what's this Dimitri guy want with Knuckles?" asked Charmy.

"As you're probably all aware" said Locke " Knuckles is a Guardian who possesses some rather unqiue abilities. You may have already seen those abilities in action,"

"Yeah" said Vector " like when he was fighting Nazo,"

"Who?" asked Spectre.

For that Rouge kicked Vector in the shins.

"Nazo never exsisted remember?" Rouge whispered to the crocodile " Knuckles changed history,"

" Never mind what Vector said" said Tails " conitnue please,"

" Anyway" Locke continued " while the Dark Legion turned to technology, we were left to ensure the safety of the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. Now are sources recently discovered that Dimitri is after their power as well. And if he finds out Knuckles has chaos blood flowing through his veins, there's no telling what they will do,"

" Then I'm not sticking around to find out" said Sonic " I'll go and bring Knuckles back before you guys can say 'butterscotch', "

With that said the blue hedgehog sped off to rescue Knuckles.

* * *

Meanwhile, Knuckles found himself being led by Xenin and Julie-Su to the medical lab for some tests. Xenin kept a tight grip on Knuckles arms while Julie-Su covered Knuckles back with a gun aiming at his heart.

All hope for escape seemed to be lost, but Knuckles wasn't going to give up by a long shot.

As the trio neared the door to the medical center Knuckles stopped, stooped, and butterfly kicked the gun out of Julie-Su's hand. The stunned echidna flew backwards, distracting Xenin enough that the cyborg echidna lost his grip.

Grabbing the oppurnity Knuckles twisted out of Xenin's grip, did a little twirl in the air, landed on the floor, and then ran for the exit like crazy. Xenin imediately punched the alarm alerting every Legionarre in the building about Knuckles escape and then headed to find the echidna himself.

As for Julie-Su, she was mad at being surprise attacked. Quickly retrieving her weapon the pink, cyber briad echidna chased after Knuckles as well.

Heading out the west entrance, into the open sunlight, Julie-Su stood poised and ready with her weapon in case Knuckles exited the north, which he did. Knuckles sprinted out of the north entrance with bullets streaming at him from behind.

Julie-Su took careful aim at the Guardian, but before she could even fire off a single shot, her trigger finger paused. Something inside her was telling Julie-Su to hold back and don't shoot.

That one moment of hesistation allowed a speeding blue blur to come by, grab Knuckles, and drag the Guardian off to safety. Seeing that Knuckles was gone Julie-Su cursed herself.

"Why couldn't I shoot him?"

* * *

Meanwhile, the blue blur stopped a few miles away and Knuckles got a chance to see who had came to his rescue.

"Sonic?" said Knuckles in surprise " what are you doing here?"

"Got an emergency call from the Chaotix" said Sonic " and the Brotherhood,"

"The what?" said Knuckles.

"Kind of like of secret league of Guardians" said Sonic " your father was there too,"

"My father?" said Knuckles, grabbing Sonic " show me where they are!"

With a salute Sonic sped off, with Knuckles in tow, back to the Brotherhood's base. On the way Knuckles mind was flooded with excitement that his father and the other echidnas were alive. However...

Deep inside Knuckles mind plagued a darker emotion; **Anger**. And there was no doubt in the echidna's mind that he planned to express it.


	4. Chapter 4: A Long Explianation

**Ch.4: A Long Explianation**

Seconds later Sonic and Knuckles arrived at the Brotherhood's base. The Chaotix cheered and ran to hug the echidna once they saw Knuckles was alright, everyone else just sat in thier seats.

After the crushing group hug was over Knuckles finally got a chance to look at his surroundings. Where ever Sonic had taken him the technology of this place was just as amazing as the one the Dark Legion possessed. But this looked more like basic security than removing body parts.

Four echindas stood at a long table joined by Knuckles friends, the young Guardian gave a each of them a sincere look over before asking.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Remington of the Echidna Security Team" said the first echidna, then pointed to the other three echidnas " and these are just a few of the members from an orginization called the Brotherhood,"

"Yeah" said Knuckles, pointing to the echidna with the cloak " I recgonize him. Glad to see you followed my advice,"

"So you're the Guardian who warned me about making a warrior out of Chaos?" said Spectre, his face growing grim. The other echidnas gathered looked worried as well. " This not good Locke,"

"Locke?" asked Knuckles, speaking to the echidna Spectre just spoke to " you're my father?"

"It' been a long time Knuckles," said Locke shyly, nodding his head.

To everyones surprise, Knuckles suddenly grew angry. His fangs were visible, and his purple eyes were flaming. Locke had expected this reaction. After all he had been keeping secrets from Knuckles ever since he was born, leaving the boy with no knowledge of his kind or what happened to them.

Sonic and the others were worried that Knuckles may do something he might regret and were tempted to hold back the echidna, but before they could Knuckles slammed his fist to the ground hard. The punch was powerful it broke the floor into six seperate pieces. Shadow wasn't sure even everyone noticed it, but Knuckles was crying, although the echidna was trying his best to conceal it.

"Why?" said Knuckles, looking at his father, eyes glaring " why did you abandon me? Your own son?"

" I had no choice" said Locke " the Ancient Walkers said I had to, in order to prevent a great evil,"

"I know all about that!" spat Knuckles " I already know what kind of power I possess. What I don't know is why Dark Legion wants me,"

" The time for keeping secrets is over" said Hawk " the time has come to reveal the truth,"

"Back in darker times" said Locke " a war had consumed the people of the mainland. But by using the power of the Emeralds we echidnas seperated ourselves from this conflict. Though we safe, some feared the war would still come to us. The Brotherhood came up with a plan to create a warrior born from Chaos, but plans changed when a Guardian from the future warned us that it would not be a good idea,"

"So what did you do?" asked Amy.

" We had to really on the strentgh of our people" continued Locke " as long as the Emeralds were with us, none of our kind would be subject to any harm, but many disagreed. And the echidna who pronounced the least faith is now the leader of the Dark Legion,"

"Dimitri," hissed Knuckles.

"Yes" said Hawk, taking up the story " Dimitri and all of his followers said that we should have our advanced technology to wipe out the mainland. No more enemies, no more war, Angel Island would be safe. But then things got pushed to far,"

"What did he do?" asked Rouge, not really sure she wanted to know the answer.

" He started to experiment on other echidnas" said Locke grimly " advancing to a state which he called superior, we called it sick,"

" I went undercover in one of thier bases one time" said Remington " what I saw in there is something I'll never forget. These echidnas were willingly, allowing themselves to be anputated just so cybernetics could replace parts that were once flesh and blood. The sight is to horrible to describe,"

" I think I agree with Locke" said Vector " these Dark Legion guys are sick! All that suffering just make themselves a perfect warrior!"

" It didn't end there Vector" said Spectre, looking at the crocodile " Dimitri had the technology, but what he lacked was power. He wanted the Emeralds. But the shrine was so well hidden that he never could find the place. We had no need to worry, until Knuckles came,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sonic.

"Knuckles was exposed to the Chaos and Master Emerald's radiation" said Locke " granting him limitless power, and abilities like no other Guardian before him. But Dimitri heard of him, and I knew that maniac would do something horrible to my son. So I abandoned him. As long as Knuckles didn't possess any other knowledge of his kind, except for the fact he had to guard the Master Emerald at all costs, he would be safe from detection,"

"But then I made the wish" said Knuckles " and now that I know about my past, this Dimitri won't stop until he gets his hands on me,"

"Correct," said Hawk.

"Well I'm not going to stay here in hiding forever" said Knuckles, walking out " if he wants me, come and get me. But I'm not going to surrender to some pyscho with a machine for a brain,"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Dark Legion's base, Kasmir, Julie-Su, and Xenin were all gathered inside Dimitri's office. And the expression on Dimitri's face was anything but pleased.

"How did he escape Xenin?" spat Dimitri, looking hard at the half-metal echidna.

" He surprised us my Lord" said Xenin " it won't happen agian,"

"What about Julie-Su?" said Kasmir " I saw her from the North entrance. She had the Guardian right in her sights, but she hesistated to stop him,"

" Is this true?" asked Dimitri, looking at Julie-Su.

"Yes" said Julie-Su dejectedly " I wanted to shoot him, I really did, but something stopped me from pulling the trigger, and then that blue blur took the Guardian away. Please Lord Dimitri, allow me to redeem myself,"

" Very well then child" said Dimitri " I will give the rest of the day and 'till noon tomorrow to find the Guardian and seek to suceed where you failed. However, if you fail to find him during this time period, then I will have no choice but to take extreme measures,"

"Thank you my Lord," said Julie-Su, and with that she left to go after Knuckles.

* * *

One hour later, Knuckles sat busy near the edge of the island, collecting his thoughts about all the trauma that had been unfolded along with his past. For one thing he was happy to see other echidnas around besides himself, but on another hand he wished he had never found out the truth.

The red echidna's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a black-cloaked figure jumped out the bushes and attack him. The two tusseled around in a dizzying roll, drawing themselves closer and closer to the edge of the island.

Knuckles pushed himself away from his opponent before they reached the edge, and stood solid, ready to fight. The black-cloaked figure stood up, the hood sliding back to reveal the face of the lovely Julie-Su.

Knuckles imediately reliased her as one of his captors and charged in at Julie-Su fists flying, the female echidna charged in for a fight as well. The two echdinas nearly matched each other blow for blow, but after a moment Julie-Su could tell just which of them had the most power.

Seeing his opening, Knuckles punched Julie-Su right in the stomach, making the female echidna slide closer to the edge of the island. Before Julie-Su could gather herself for a counter attack, the thin ledge she was standing on gave way. The next thing anyone knew, she was plummeting to the ground, hundreds of feet below.


	5. Chapter 5: Soultouch

**Ch.5: Soultouch**

"Hold on!" yelled Knuckles, rushing and grabbing Julie-Su's hand before the pink echidna could plummet to the sky below.

After a few minutes of struggle Knuckles finally managed to drag the Dark Legionarre to safety. Both echidnas collasped on the ground as they tried to regian their breath, and a long moment of silence passed.

"Why?" asked Julie-su, looking at Knuckles " why did you save me?"

"I lost my kind once" said Knuckles " I won't lose them again,"

"Did you mean it?" said Julie-Su " what you said back at the base? Have you really spent all this time alone?"

" I was alone" said Knuckles " for many years I lived without any knowledge of my kind. Then my friends gave me a chance to find out what happened. I took it because I thought it would be great to know. But given the events that have followed my wish, perhaps it would have better for me just to remian ignorant,"

" I know how you must feel" said Julie-Su, placing a gentle hand on Knuckles back as she sat down beside him " not really knowing about your past. All I know is that I was born and raised in the Dark Legoin. If they could help me, they could probably help you,"

" By cutting off my body parts and replacing it with cyber junk?" said Knuckles, pulling away from Julie-Su " You guys remind me to much about Eggman and his pyscho experiments. Plus, your boss just wants to use me as a weapon remember?"

Seeing that this conversation was getting nowhere fast, Julie-Su was about to give up and leave when a sudden shock shattered through both of the echidnas spines. To Knuckles surprise he noticed that the white crescent moon on his chest started to glow green.

Julie-Su felt her heart beat faster as she looked over to see the full moon had just settled in the sky. Both echidnas instantly knew what this green glow meant. They were soultouched.

The Soultouch was the echidnas way for finding their perfect mate. It wasn't always accurate at finding true love, unless of course, it was supported by the full moon.

The moon's light would make the two soultouched echidnas glow green, which meant that thier love was true and would remian that way forever. Knuckles didn't want to believe it as much as Julie-Su did, but both echidnas knew that they couldn't deny what was happening.

"We hardly even know each other" said Julie-Su "this can't be happening,"

" You and I both know that's not how the Soultouch works" said Knuckles " but pushing that fact aside for the moment, how about you tell me why the Dark Legion wants to get a hold of me so badly?"

" Dimitri had plans to take the Angel Island back from the Brotherhood anyway he could" said Julie-Su " so when he heard the Brotherhood talking about how Locke created the ultimate Guardian...,"

"...He went after me" finished Knuckles, before taking a deep breath and continued " look Julie-Su, I know I may be asking a lot, but I need your help. Please help me stop Dimitri. If he takes over the Island and gets to the Emeralds, who knows what will happen,"

"I'll help" said Julie-Su, after a few mintues of hesistation " I can't deny a request from my future mate now can I? But I may have to complain about the stubborn excuse for the echidna they gave me,"

"Stubborn?" said Knuckles playfully " why you...come here!"

With that the red echidna tackled Julie-Su, making the two echidnas roll over and over each other, until they just stopped and laughed.

From limbo, the Ancient Walkers were smiling at seeing how well the Soultouch was working out. But a big problem lay ahead concerning the new relationship, the Brotherhood and the Dark Legion.

* * *

Back at the Brotherhood base, Sonic and the others were getting worried about Knuckles long dissappearence, Sonic especially. The blue hedgehog could be seen pacing back and forth down the same hallway, it was driving Amy nuts.

" Sonic, would you please stop pacing!" said Amy " you're making me dizzy!"

" It's almost sunrise and Knux isn't back yet" said Sonic, thankfully stopping his pace " it doesn't normally take him this long to blow off steam,"

"Nothing about this situation screams 'Normal' ," said Vector.

"That depends on your definition of what 'normal' is," said Shadow.

"Curiousity rings a bell" said Rouge, looking at Locke. The only Brotherhood member still in the room. "What was this 'great evi'l you were preparing Knuxie boy to face in the first place?"

"I never wanted him to face it" said Locke " the future the Ancient Walkers have shown to me is to horrible to describe. Everything is burned, and no one is left alive except for the person who caused this holocuast. I tried to enhance myself so that I would be strong enough to stop it, but I failed, therefore I exposed my son to Emeralds radiation,"

"That still doesn't explian why you left him behind," said Espio.

"As I had said before it was to mask him from the Dark Legion's detection" said Locke " but your right in saying that that wasn't the only reason. If the guardian Spectre saw in the past really was Knuckles, then here has to be a big concern,"

"Why's that?" said Sonic.

" He shouldn't have been able to tap into his full potential yet" said Locke " a sudden change to his ultimate form could end up transforming him permantly or kill him for good,"

Before the conversation could continue Hawk's voice came out of the intercom carrying some greatful and shocking news.

"Locke" said Hawk's voice " Knuckles has returned. And he has brought a friend with him as well. A Dark Legionarre,"

Locke, Sonic, and the others were shocked and imediately ran to the front entrance to confront Knuckles and his so-called friend. When they arrived everyone almost stopped in shock not only to see that Knuckles was with a Dark Legion, female echidna, but that the two were also holding hands.

Knuckles and Julie-Su looked at each other, trying to hide giggles behind thier smiles. They expected this kind of reaction when they arrived back at the Brotherhood base, yet neither one of them cared for what the others were thinking.

In fact, all last night, when they found out that they were soultouched, Knuckles and Julie-Su spent the whole night lying on the grass and watching the stars. As the air grew colder Julie-Su felt herself cuddling up next to Knuckles, drawn in by his warm fur. Knuckles flinched away at first, but soon decided that maybe it was alright to let her this close, just this once.

"What are you thinking Knuckles!?" said Sonic, bringing the pair back to reality " she's part of the group who kidnapped you and you brought her here?"

"It's okay" said Knuckles " Julie-Su is only here to help,"

"Help" scuffed Vector " yeah right!"

"It's true" said Julie-Su " I would never lie to Knuckles, I...I love him,"

That sentence shocked everyone for a moment, but it didn't shock Sonic for long.

"Yeah" said Sonic " love him enough to capture him and try to make him into the perfect little Dark Legionarre,"

"Back off Sonic!" said Knuckles, getting in between the hedgehog and Julie-Su. This move seemed to surprise everyone even more than Julie-Su's annoucement did. " Julie-Su has information we would all like to hear, so listen to her!"

"Why should we?" said Vector " is she your girlfriend now?"

"That may very well be the case" said Locke " come let's hear what Julie-Su has to say,"

* * *

Hours later, Knuckles and Julie-Su found themselves walking out of the meeting chamber still reliving the grueling debate that had taken place.

"Well that an interesting start," said Knuckles.

" It'll take time for them to completely trust me" said Julie-Su " though I can't really blame thier reaction,"

"Yeah" said Knuckles, stopping at the front entrance " this is as far as I go. You know you're mission right?"

"Yes Mom," said Julie-Su, walking out the door and heading back to the Brotherhood base.

As Julie-Su left something that she said kept repeating in Knuckles mind, bringing up a new question to the young Guardian. Was his mother alive? And if she was, where is she?"

* * *

Back at the Dark Legion base, Julie-Su had just returned and was ordered to join Xenin and Kasmir in Dimitri's office for an important meeting.

"Ah Julie-Su" said Dimitri, when the pink echidna walked in " welcome back. Did your search for the Guardian prove fruitful?"

"No" said Julie-Su, sitting down between Xenin and Kasmir " his trail went cold,"

"Don't worry" said Dimitri " we will find him, by snatching the one thing every Guardian is sworn to protect, the Master Emerald,"

"But My Lord" said Kasmir " we don't even know where the alter is,"

"And even if we find the alter" said Julie-Su " if we attempt to steal the Master Emerald, the Brotherhood would be on us in minutes,"

"Plus what would we do with that gaint gem anyway?" asked Xenin " only Guardians have the power to control it,"

"I do not plan to control it" said Dimitri " only to use it. The task I command can only be accomplished with it's power, and is very vital to our cause. One way or another, by the end of this war, the Brotherhood shall fall. And the Dark Legion shall riegn supreme!"


	6. Chapter 6: Catch The Snitch

**Ch.6: Catch The Snitch**

Not long after Julie-Su left, Knuckles went off on his own mission, hoping that Sonic and the others wouldn't follow him. But as he walked the echidna picked up three familar scents following him from behind.

Knuckles relaxed his guard and kept walking, knowing that the trio traveling behind him meant no harm.

" Guess I should have expected someone to be worried about me" thought Knuckles, with a sigh " well, at least it's not Sonic,"

And indeed it wasn't, it was the Chaotix. Vector, Espio, and Charmy thought it would be a good idea to stay on Knuckles tail, especially since they overheard Knuckles and Locke's private converstation fifthteen minutes ago.

* * *

_"Knuckles" said Locke " I know that the Soultouch is our way of finding our true mate, but are you both sure that it isn't a mistake?"_

_" Was marrying my mom a mistake?" asked Knuckles._

_Locke sighed in defeat, his son never did fail to get striaght to the point. In reality, Locke guessed that the question about Knuckles mother had to be asked sooner or later._

_" I loved your mother Knuckles" said Locke " in some ways I still do, but my duties as a Guardian interfered with our relationship, especially when she gave birth to you. She made a hard choice, and lost both access to you and me. Perhaps if I didn't put my duties before my love, we would still be together,"_

_"Where is she?" asked Knuckles " I want to see her,"_

_"Go to the city" said Locke " and ask for Lara-Le, you'll find her,"_

_As Knuckles left the Chaotix walked in. Locke knew that the trio must have overheard, anyway he was glad they showed up._

_" Keep an eye on him" said Locke " and make sure he's alright,"_

* * *

A few minutes later Vector suddenly realized where Knuckles was going, the ancient city where Nazo first appeared, except it wasn't so ancient anymore. The place was crawling with life, echidnas were everywhere.

" You guys ever going to show yourselves," said Knuckles to the trio behind him.

"Oops" said Vector, him and the rest of the team stepping out into the light " cover is blown,"

"How did you know we were behind you?" asked Espio.

"Lucky guess" said Knuckles " I hadn't counted on anyone following me, but since you guys are here, let's go find my mom,"

About a half an hour later searching Echidnanopolis, Vector suddenly struck pay dirt and quickly informed the rest of Chaotix and Knuckles on where Knuckles mother lived.

Standing at the door Knuckles felt nervous, but he quickly pushed those feelings aside and knocked on the door. The beautiful female echidna named Lara-Le answered the door. When she saw Knuckles a smile instantly lit up her face as she hugged him so tight. The Chaotix couldn't hide thier grins as they watched the mother and son reunion.

"I missed you so much" said Lara-Le to Knuckles, then looked up see the Chaotix standing a few feet away " and I see you made some friends. Do they have names?"

"Vector, Charmy, Espio" said Knuckles " I'd like you to meet my mom,"

"Its very nice to see you Miss," said Espio.

"Thank you" said Knuckles " and thank you for bringing Knuckles home. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Yeah that sound like...," started Charmy, but Vector put a hand over the bee's mouth before he could finish.

"No thanks mam" said Vector " this is more of a mother and son moment. We'll just wait for Knuckles back at the Brotherhood,"

"So you've been to the Brotherhood base?" asked Lara-Le, her smile suddenly turning into a frown. Her gaze turned to Knuckles. " did they tell you about the war?"

"Yes" said Knuckles " can we talk inside? I'll try to explian everything there,"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the walk back to the Brotherhood base, the Chaotix were minding thier own business when a call suddenly dailed in on Vector's wrist communicator.

"What do you want?" demanded Vector, shocked to find out the caller was Julie-Su.

"Uh, its you" said Julie-Su in disgust when seeing Vector " where's Knuckles? I need to talk to him!"

"Sorry toots" said Vector " Knux ain't here, he's spending some quality time with mom. You can't contact him anyway, he's not wearing his wrist phone. So if you want some personal time, I'm afriad you'll have to take a raincheck,"

"This isn't personal!" shouted Julie-Su " its urgent! Knuckles is in great danger! Dimitri is planning to use the Master Emerald to...,"

Before the female echidna could finish her sentence her last few words erupted into a scream. The Chaotix froze stiff as Julie-Su was knocked out of the picture only to be replaced with the form of an evil-looking, half-metal, male echidna.

Xenin sneered as he hissed to the Chaotix.

"Anyone agianist us shall die, and the Guardian will be the first to go,"

With that the communication was cut off, allowing an eerie silence take its place.

* * *

Harshly, Xenin dragged Julie-Su all the way to Lord Dimitri's office surprising both Dimitri and Kasmir, who were having a chat about how to find the Master Emerald. Dimitri was iriatated at being so rudely interrupted, his eyes glaring at Xenin.

" You had better have a good reason for coming here," said Dimitri.

"I do" said Xenin, pushing Julie-Su out in front of him " this little spy has been seen communicating with the Guardian and revealing to him and the Brotherhood of our plans,"

"Actions such as this unquestionable Xenin" said Dimitri, turning his glarin eyes on Julie-Su " tell the truth child, did you do it?"

"Yeah" said Julie-Su, reluctantly " I did it,"

Kasmir gasped, while Dimitri's anger flared to unimagineable hieghts. In all the years since he had started the Dark Legion, not once did a single member of the Legionarres turned around and betrayed him like this. His mind flooded with all sorts of horrible punishments he could inflict on Julie-Su, but none of them could never cause the triator enough pain.

Finally, something kicked into Dimitri's mind, and he realized that even with the Guardian's knowledge of attempts the Dark Legion could still claim victory. And it would all be because of Julie-Su.

"Xenin!" Dimitri demanded " take Julie-Su away, but keep her close. Kasmir, go on ahead and prepare the fleet. We're doing things a little ahead of schedule,"

Xenin and Kasmir imediately went to follow out Dimitri's orders. Dimitri grinned as they left, a fierce and violent glow shining in his eyes.

From the convexity the Ancient Walkers watched the scene play before them in silence, though inwardly all three floating tiki masks were shaking with fear. The Great Evil they had predicted about long ago would soon rise, and with its awakening Angel Island and the world would fall.


	7. Chapter 7: False Moods

**Ch.7: False Moods**

"Charmy" said Vector " fly back to Knuckles and tell him its urgent. Me and Espio will go warn the Brotherhood,"

With a quick nod Charmy flew at top speed back to Lara-Le's house and started pounding on the door. Knuckles and Lara-Le both were surprised when they heard the voilent beating on the door. What was even more surprising was the bee that came tumbling in when they opened it.

" Charmy!" said Knuckles, shocked " what's going on? What's wrong?"

"The Dark Legion's got Julie-Su" said Charmy " and thier heading out to steal the Master Emerald,"

"What?!" said Knuckles, thn turned to his mother " I have to go,"

"I know" said Lara-Le, hugging her son goodbye " be careful Knuckles,"

"I will," said Knuckles, and with that solemn goodbye Knuckles ran off with Charmy to stop Dimitri from getting his hands on the Master Emerald.

Meanwhile, when Vector and Espio came back to the Brotherhood base with the horrifying news everyone was on immediate alert and started talking at once. Five minutes later when Knuckles and Charmy came in, the converstation had reached to a cresedo.

"Enough!" shouted Locke, stopping the converstation cold " talking won't help matters, we must take action! Sonic, you and your friends go help Knuckles protect the Master Emerald. The Brotherhood will stay and monitor the Dark Legion's movements from here and warn you when they make thier move,"

"Got it!" said Sonic to Locke, then turned to face Knuckles " lead the way Knux,"

* * *

Night time had never felt more uncomfortable, yet Knuckles could never remember a time where he had feared the night. But maybe that's because it wasn't completely dark yet. The shadows had still a little ways to go before the sky could go completely black.

Sonic and the others stood surrounding the base of the altar while Knuckles kept a eye out from the top. The air around them was tense, and more than once Sonic felt his gaze landing on Knuckles.

The blue hedgehog did not like the thoughts stirring up in the echidna's eyes, for he could tell something bad was about to happen, and happen soon.

* * *

Dimitri's mood was anything but warm and friendly as he stood in the cockpit of the main tank with Kasmir and Xenin by his side. The Dark Legion was prepared for war. Five armored tanks and thousands of Legionarres armed to the teeth with guns.

With this kind of firepower there was no way the Dark Legion could fail. But in case it did, there was always Plan B.

Locked away in the brig was the beaten up form of Julie-Su, with cuts and scrapes all over her body. Kasmir and especially Xenin had taken great pleasure in causing her that pain. Julie-Su didn't know what to feel when she finally recieved a moments peace.

The Master Emerald and Knuckles were in great danger and it was all her fault.

"Oh Knuckles" thought Julie-Su " I wish there was some way I could warn him about Dimitri. Wait a minute! The Soultouch! Please work!"

Putting her hand on her heart Julie-Su focused her concentration and tried to contact Knuckles until she could finally feel his spirit. Back at the alter Knuckles suddenly jumped in shock, Sonic noticed.

"Knux, what's wong?" asked Sonic, worried.

"They're here," said Knuckles.

As soon as Knuckles spoke the Dark Legion suddenly appeared out of the trees guns blazing, activating the defense ring around the alter. Sonic and Shadow led the charge, encouraging the others to take down the enmey.

Vector, Espio, Charmy, Cream, Cheese, and Amy took on the ground forces while Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, and Tails took on the tanks. Knuckles still stood on the Master Emerald's alter, ignoring the chaos around, for he was still in contact with Julie-Su's spirit.

All he could hear from her was "beware" and "cannon" before their conversation was interrupted by a scream. Looking over Knuckles could see Vector, Espio, Cream, and Cheese get hit by one of the Dark Legion's five tanks. All four of them were greatly injured and unable to move.

"Oh no," yelled Amy and Charmy, rushing over to help them.

Enraged, Shadow took down one tank with a barrage of Chaos Spears, while Sonic took down another one with a super spin.

"Enough!" shouted Dimitri, rising from the main tank.

"Look who decided to join the party" said Sonic, glaring at Dimitri " there's no way your going to get the Master Emerald,"

"Oh I'll get it alright" said Dimitri, sporting a wicked grin " cause your Guardian is going to give it to me,"

Just then, rays were fired from the second and third cannon, catching the hedgehogs off guard. They barely had time to escape before the blast. As a result both Sonic and Shadow were still alive, but were injured, weary, and unable to stand.

Rouge and Tails went over immediately to give the two hedgehogs aid while Dimitri turned his gaze to Knuckles, smiled, and snapped his fingers. Kasmir and Xenin suddenly appeared dragging the beaten form of Julie-Su in thier hands.

Knuckles, and almost everyone who saw her gasped. Julie-Su's body looked like she had a fight butcher knife, cuts and scrapes could be seen everywhere, and some were still bleeding.

"You heartless...," growled Knuckles, but stopped when Xenin pointed his metal claws at Julie-Su's neck.

"Choose Guardian" said Dimitri " what is more important? The Emerald or her life?"

"Don't fall for it Knuckles" said Amy " forget about her,"

"Listen to her Knuckles" said Sonic " you can't give up the Master Emerald,"

"But I...," thought Knuckles.

"Listen to them son" said Locke's voice on Knuckles communicator " the Master Emerald hold a countless amount of power. If he gets his hands on it the whole Island would be be doomed. I don't care if you and her are Soultouched. Your duty as a Guardian must come first,"

"No" said Knuckles outloud " I will never put the Master Emerald and my duties as Guardian before saving a life. That's one thing I learned that I owe to you, Sonic. Dimitri, take the Emerald, I surrender,"

"I knew you would see it my way" said Dimitri, turning to Xenin " release her,"

With that Xenin threw Julie-Su away and while raced over to catch her the Dark Legion secured the Master Emerald and rode off. Although relieved she was alive, Julie-Su couldn't help but notice the dirty looks she and Knuckles were getting from Sonic and the others. Things were destined to get worse before they got better.


	8. Chapter 8: The Monster Within

**Ch.8: The Monster Within**

Later at the Brotherhood base the mood was anything but friendly. The Brotherhood members, especially Locke, were glaring hard at Knuckles. While Sonic and the others focused thier angry frowns on Julie-Su.

Knuckles didn't expect his decision to be popular, and stormed off when everyone started to get mad. Julie-Su left the room as well, hoping to find a quiet place to think, and retreat her wounds. Surprisingly, Rouge went to help her.

"Why are you following me?" asked Julie-Su.

"Those wounds of yours could use some help" said Rouge, helping Julie-Su limp down the hallway " I know we're all to upset to admit it, but Knuckles did do the right thing,"

" I wish this had never happened," said Julie-Su.

"Careful what you wish for dear" said Rouge " that's what got this whole mess started in the first place. Knuxie wanted to find out what truly happened to his kind, then the Brotherhood and you came along. I see how he blushes everytime he's around you,"

"How do you know?" asked Julie-Su, shocked.

"Let's say I had a crush on him once" said Rouge " he's kind of sweet, in a stubborn sort of way,"

"No agruement there," laughed Julie-Su.

With that Julie-Su and Rouge continued to laugh and talk about Knuckles the whole way to the medical center.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic and the others, minus Rouge, were still in the conference chamber debating about Knuckles recent decision to give up the Master Emerald. All but Shadow and the Chaotix decided to throw in thier opinion.

"Enough!" shouted Vector, slamming his fist on the table, making everyone clam up " look, we can discuss this over and over again until the world comes to an end, which it may very well be. Ever since Knuckles birthday, all this crazy stuff has been happening, but we were the ones who came up with that wishing crystal idea in the first place remember?"

Everyone nodded guiltly in silence as Vector continued.

" I don't care if everyone doesn't like what Knuckles did, even if it was the right thing to do,"

"What are you talking about Vector?" asked Sonic.

"Who were the ones telling Knuckles that his job is worth more than a life?" said Shadow, his eyes narrowed on Sonic and Amy " I guess you like to preach heroic words, but don't follow them when it really counts,"

"You're right" said Sonic, after a few minutes of digesting Shadow's words " I guess we all got caught up a little to much in this war. I have to find Knuckles, and apologize,"

With that said the blue blur sped off to find his friend.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Dark Legion base, Dimitri with his two commanders Xenin and Kasmir stood in awe at the glory of the glowing green brillance of the Master Emerald. It was impossible to ignore the kind of power that radiated from this glowing gem. A power that Dimitri planned to use to end this war once and for all.

"All these years" said Dimitri " and now the power to destroy the Brotherhood is in the palm of my hand,"

" To bad the Chaos Emeralds weren't on the alter too" said Kasmir " we could have had a full set,"

"No doubt that the Brotherhood hid them away before the fight" said Xenin " but anyway who needs them, not that we have this,"

"Yes" said Kasmir " but now that we have it how can we control it? The Master Emerald only responds to a Guardian's commands,"

"Not anymore" said Dimitri, then shouted to an echidna above " Lien-Da, activate the machine,"

Lien-Da did as she was told and activated the machine that held the Master Emerald. The light in the room almost became unbearable as the Master Emerald's chaos energy filled the entire room.

* * *

At the same time all this was happening, Sonic had finally managed to catch up to Knuckles. But before the hedgehog get started on his apology Knuckles suddenly fell to the floor, clutching his sides and screaming in pain.

"Knuckles, what's wrong?" asked Sonic.

But the echidna was in to much pain to answer. Not wasting time Sonic grabbed Knuckles and rushed him over to the medical center where Rouge was almost done dressing Julie-Su's wounds.

When the two saw Sonic rush in with Knuckles both of thier faces lit up with worry.

"What's wrong?" asked Julie-Su.

"I don't know" said Rouge " but I have a feeling we're not going to like it,"

* * *

The radiation produced from the Master Emerald was almost to much to bear. Lien-Da tried to do what she could at the control but that only seemed to make the power generated more intense.

The light faded and changed into green, flaming, energy tenactles that smashed everything in sight. Dimitri finally realised that the Master Emerald was to much for him to control and ordered everyone to retreat.

No one argued and immediately ran towards the exit. Luckily they all made it out safely, but Dimitri wasn't so fortunate. One of the Master Emerald's flaming tentacles caught him in it's grasp.

Xenin and Kasmir looked back when they heard thier leader scream. What they saw next was to horrible to describe, as Dimitri's body was dematerilized and absorbed by the Master Emerald.

Lien-Da forced Xenin and Kasmir to continue running away while the Master Emerald adjusted its energy so it was on the same tune as Dimitri's dark heart. Once that was done the Master Emerald transformed itself into a giant beast and blasted the Dark Legion one last farewell before traveling back to the alter. Where it knew, its Guardian would be waiting.

* * *

Witnessing all these action from above, the Ancient Walkers shivered in worry for the time of the Great Evil was almost here.

_"Chaos rings in the heart of sorrow,_

_Things will not be well tomorrow._

_Destruction will riegn throughout the land,_

_Until love decides to lend a hand,"_


	9. Chapter 9: Dark Chaos Knuckles Is Born

**Ch.9: Dark Chaos Knuckles Is Born**

When Rouge and Julie-Su told the others that Knuckles was in the medical center everyone immediately rushed over. Remington halted the stampede from entering the treatment center, but let Locke through since he was Knuckles dad.

Locke was surprised to see Sonic when he walked in. Although since Sonic was the one who brought Knuckles in, it wasn't to big of a surprise that he was allowed to stay and watch.

"What's the status Hawk?" asked Locke.

"Pyshically he's as fit as a fiddle" said Hawk " I think the problem may be with the Link,"

"What Link?" asked Sonic.

"The Link that is formed between the Guardian and the Master Emerald" Locke explianed " if the Emerald ever shatters, the Link makes sure the two will always find each other,"

"But in this case its the opposite" said Sonic " Knuckles isn't looking for the Master Emerald...,"

"Its coming to find him," said Locke.

Suddenly an emergency call from Spectre erupted through the whole base.

"Locke!" shouted Spectre's voice " the Master Emerald has transformed and is heading striaght for Echidnapolis!"

"Mom!" shouted Knuckles, suddenly sitting up " I have to save her!"

"No" said Locke, sternly to his son " the Link has been contaminated by Dimitri. If you go out to fight right now who knows what will happen,"

" That's my problem then" said Knuckles, then looked at Sonic " unless you object to saving peoples lives?"

"Would we ever let you fight alone?" said Sonic, throwing Knuckles a thumbs up " come on, time to end this war once and for all,"

* * *

After a quick stop by the alter to arm themselves with the Chaos Emeralds Sonic and the others blasted towards Echidnapolis. When they arrived the mountian that had been hiding the city had been sliced clean off by the Master Emerald, leaving it vulernable to attack.

It was no easy task getting everyone to safety, mostly because there wasn't much people to save. The Master Emerald had already ready destroyed close to two-thirds of the city. Fearing for his mom Knuckles immediately rushed in, with Sonic following from behind.

The hedgehog and the echidna both had to watch out for the green energy beams the Master Emerald was shooting from it's mouth. Lara-Le was cowering inside her apartment when Sonic and Knuckles arrived. Her right leg was trapped under parts that fell down from the roof. And the whole cieling threatened to cave in any minute.

"Come on Mom" said Knuckles, lifting off the heavy debris " lets get you out of here,"

A gaint tremor shook the earth as the Master Emerald passed by, letting what was left of the cieling to rian down. But thanks to a speedy response by Sonic everyone made it out to the safety. Shadow, along with Rouge and Tails came by to meet them,"

"Shadow, what's the status?" asked Sonic.

"Not good" said Shadow " those green beams have drained everyone of all thier energy. Looks like the Master Emerald is trying to get power any way it can,"

"You're not saying what I think you are" said Knuckles worried " are you?"

"They're dead," said Rouge.

Knuckles cringed when he heard the news. This terrible tragedy had to strike just when he was getting to know more about his kind. Had his birthday been nothing but a big waste? Maybe things would be better if he never made that wish.

"Run!" yelled Vector, followed by the rest of the group that was behind him " its coming after us!"

Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow turned to see the Master Emerald Dragon approaching, its body overflowing with massive amounts of energy, some provided by the lost souls of Echidnapolis. Taking out a Chaos Emerald Sonic looked at Shadow.

"Time to fight" said Sonic " you ready?"

"Hmph," said Shadow, nodding and getting out another Chaos Emerald.

The rest of the group got the idea and soon all seven Chaos Emeralds were up in the air, ready to turn Sonic and Shadow into thier Super Forms. The Master Emerald paused as the Chaos Emeralds started to glow, and then let out an enormous roar.

The whole island shuttered as the roar sliced through the air, Sonic and the gang could barely stand it. Then, to everyones surprise, something horrible happened the Chaos Emeralds shattered!

"What the...?" said Shadow, when the Chaos Emerald shattered in his hand. Looking at the others he noticed thier emeralds had shattered as well.

To make matters worse, according to the writing on the old shrine, the Chaos Emeralds were created to store away the excess energy of the Master Emerald. Now that the Chaos Emeralds were shattered there was nowhere for the energy to go, except striaght back to its source.

"This is not good," said Espio.

"What was your first clue?" asked Rouge, as the Master Emerald Dragon started to get larger.

" The Master Emerald has completely regianed its full power" said Remington, landing along with the rest of the Brotherhood in an EST jet " its going to take more than one Guardian to restore it back to its orginal state,"

"We have no choice but to try to seperate Dimitri from the Master Emerald" said Spectre " as long as his dark heart taints it, everything will be lost,"

"And if we try anything we'll be lost," said Hawk.

"There's no other way," said Locke.

"Father, wait!" said Knuckles " what are you doing?"

"Saving the world" said Locke " just like my son,"

Grabbing each others hands Locke, Spectre, and Hawk confronted the Master Emerald Dragon and stood chanting a mantra in ancient echidna tounge. White light surrounded all three of thier bodies and then shot out like spear, piercing the Master Emerald Dragon's heart.

The dragon form deminshed with a yell of pain leaving the Master Emerald itself hovering in midair. Dimitri's body had been sucessfully ejected out, but by the condition his body was in it wasn't hard to assume he was dead.

"They did it!" yelled Sonic, happily.

"They sure did" said Shadow to Sonic " look,"

Sonic turned to see Locke, Spectre, and Hawk's bodies laying on the ground, unmoving. Remington didn't waste time walking over and checking the three for pulses. But he couldn't find any, all three of the old Guardians were dead.

"No" said Amy, throwing a pitiful glance at Knuckles " how could that happen?"

"Its a failsafe in case the Master Emerald's power got out of control" said Remington " the only flaw was self-sacrifice,"

Knuckles couldn't stand listening to anymore than his ears could take and slammed the ground with his fist, his entire body was shaking in anger. Still floating in midair, a dark pulsating orb began to glow inside the Master Emerald.

The orb spread until the enitre Emerald glowed black. Red beams of lightning shaped energy shot out of the Dark Master Emerald and a black aura started to surround Knuckles as well.

The red echidna's fur became flaming purple, and his eyes shined as red as rubies. His gloves ripped off revealing dangerous looking talon-like claws.

From limbo the Ancient Walkers trembled for the end had come. The anger, saddness, and guilt inside of Knuckles had tainted his Chaos Force. It would take all the luck in the world for Sonic and the others to stop Dark Chaos Knuckles.


	10. Chapter 10: A Calming Kiss

**Ch.10: A Calming Kiss**

"What happened to him?" said Rouge, looking at Knuckles.

"This what all the Guardians feared" said Remington " Knuckles emotional state has been tainted by unrelenting hatred making his Chaos Form grow dark. He's completely lost control of his actions. No one will be safe from his wrath,"

"And we can't stop him because the Master Emerald shattered the Chaos Emeralds" said Shadow " great, just great,"

"Isn't there any way we can stop this?" Sonic asked Remington.

"We can try" said Remington " but at this rate it won't take long until the entire island is destroyed,"

"Tails!" shouted Sonic " get the X Tornado ready to fly, me and Shadow will meet you there,"

"I'm coming to," said Julie-Su.

"No way" said Vector " its to dangerous,"

"You want to see danger?" said Julie-Su, glaring at the crocodile " then just try to stop me,"

"We have no time to argue" said Shadow, grabbing Julie-su's hand and speeding off " let's go!"

Soon Sonic, Julie-Su, and Shadow boarded the X Tornado along with Tails and took off to the skies. As they approached where Knuckles was Tails pulled out two pairs of sneakers and gave one each to Sonic and Shadow.

"What are these?" asked Sonic.

"Flight shoes" said Tails " after Chris went back to his home planet he left behind these ideas for new super shoes he was planning to design, so I've been working on them. Figure they come in handy someday,"

"Timing couldn't be better" said Shadow as he put on the shoes and looked at Sonic " let's fly!"

With that said both hedgehogs took off to face Dark Chaos Knuckles. The dark echidna saw them coming and fired a birage of Chaos Spears right at them. Sonic and Shadow both managed to dodge the attack, leaving Shadow free to launch a few Chaos Spears of his own.

But Shadow's assualt was blocked by a red energy shield called up by Knuckles. The echidna barely had time to dodge because just then Sonic came spinning in from behind.

Angry at almost being caught off guard Dark Chaos Knuckles sent out a large Chaos Blast knocking over everything in a fifthteen mile radias. Sonic and Shadow were knocked away and Tails had to struggle to get the X Tornado under control.

"This isn't going to work" said Julie-Su from behind Tails " without the Chaos Emeralds Sonic and Shadow are no match for Knuckles, at least not while he's in this state,"

"I can't see any other way around it" said Tails " Knuckles emotions are directly linked with the Master Emerald, that's what's giving him this power. If we can't calm him down we'll have no other choice than to...,"

Tails couldn't finish the sentence, it was to horrible to imagine that might have to destroy Knuckles in order to save the world. a sudden sound made they fox's ears perk up and he turned around to see Julie-Su attaching a Flight Pack to her back.

"Julie-Su, what are you doing?" asked Tails.

"I'm not even going to think of that option" said Julie-Su " if Sonic and Shadow can't stop him, then maybe I can,"

Ignoring the sounds of protests she was getting from Tails Julie-Su flew out of the plane and sped towards Knuckles. Sonic and Shadow had arrived back battered and beaten just in time to see Julie-Su fly fearlessly towards Dark Chaos Knuckles.

"What is she doing?" said Shadow " is she crazy?"

"Julie-Su, come back!" yelled Sonic.

The pink, metal-dreadlocked echidna didn't hear and finally stopped to hover less than two feet away from the glowing black form of Knuckles. Both of the echidnas stared at each other for what felt like minutes as the mysterious force known as the Soultouch slowly connected thier two hearts.

The storm calmed down as the two grew closer, and as they embraced the dark aura surrounding Knuckles body disappeared once again showing his crimson fur, and his eyes sparkled voilet once more.

With anger no longer feeding it the Master Emerald once again glowed filling the world with its purifying light. And to everyone's amazement the shattered remians of the Chaos Emeralds joined together and became whole once more.

Julie-Su was pleased that the world was returning to normal, but even more pleased to have her arms wrapped around Knuckles. But the romantic scene was suddenly thrown out of balance as Knuckles dreary eyes closed and he fainted in Julie-Su's arms.

Landing back on the ground Tails looked over to examine Knuckles, what he had to report wasn't good.

"He used up way to much of his Chaos Energy" said Tails " he's completely drained. If we don't do something fast, Knuckles will die,"


	11. Chapter 11: Alone, But Not Alone

**Ch.11: Alone, But Not Alone**

Without wasting time Knuckles unconious form was loaded onto the X Tornado and was on his way to the hospital. Dr. Quack was astounded when Knuckles brought in, but quickly put his surprise to bed and went to work.

Sonic, Tails, and Julie-Su waited inside the waiting room, impatiently waiting for any news to come forth. Meanwhile, back on Angel Island the others were surveying the damage caused by both Knuckles and the Master Emerald.

Remington and Lara-Le were especially glad to find a few echidna survivors. They were severely wounded, but in time they would heal. Shadow, Rouge, Cream, and Cheese looked to the West, while Amy with the bandaged Chaotix tried the East. As they were walking Vector kept on looking back at the devesation the war had left behind.

"Destruction is so familiar" said Vector " but it hurts to watch just the same,"

"Yeah," said Charmy.

"Guys listen," said Espio, stopping in his tracks " I think I hear someone,"

All four stopped to listen, and as they did the voices came closer. Before anyone knew it three figures appeared out of the shadows. The Chaotix's senses immediately went on high alert, and Amy got out her hammer when they got a good look at the three.

They were echidnas, but parts of thier flesh had been taken away and had been replaced with gleering metal. They were Dark Legionarres. Xenin, Kasmir, and Lien-Da were relieved to find someone else, but thier faces fell when they saw Amy and the Chaotix.

"You guys have a lot to answer for" said Vector, grabbing Kasmir while Espio and others grabbed Xenin and Lien-Da "You're just lucky that I'm in a good mood right now,"

"Really?" said Kasmir " I couldn't guess,"

That smart remark made Vector pull on her extra hard. Soon all three Dark Legionarres were looking into the angry face of Remington, who wasn't at all pleased to see them.

"Good work" said Remington to the Chaotix and Amy, then turned his attention on the Dark Legionarres " these three will stand trial for everything thier boss has done. Vector, Espio, lets show our 'guests' where they may stay,"

Back down on the surface Julie-Su and Tails watched as Sonic paced around in the waiting room impatiently. Watching the blue hedgehog go back and forth, back and forth, was starting to make Tails dizzy.

"Please Sonic" said Tails " anymore walking and there will be a groove in the floor,"

"There should have been some news by now" said Sonic, ignoring Tails last comment " Knuckles is a fighter, he wouldn't let a little chaos drain bring him down like this,"

"We don't know how much of his energy has been drained" said Tails " you heard Locke explian, when Knuckles was born he was exposed to radiation of the Chaos and Master Emeralds. His lifeforce could very well be connected to thier energy. But given the Emeralds current state, its a toss up if he'll survive,"

Julie-Su had just about heard enough, and was about to get up and leave when Dr. Quack suddenly entered the room.

" He's awake and his condition is stabalizing" said Dr. Quack " he's requested to the young lady here, miss Julie-Su,"

Shocked, Julie-Su entered the emergency room to see Knuckles laying down on the medical bed, his violet eyes shining, and big grin on his face when she walked in. When Julie-Su took a chiar beside him, Knuckles gripped one of her hands in his.

"I'm sorry," said Julie-Su, after a minute of silence.

"Its okay" said Knuckles " none of this your fault, if anyone's blame I guess it would be me. If it wasn't for my wish, none of this would have ever happened,"

"Hey" said Julie-Su " you can't blame yourself for all the bad things that have happened,"

"No, I can't" said Knuckles " its just always seemed that way since I started hanging out with Sonic. But I can't pin the blame on him either, no matter how much I want to,"

Julie-Su laughed.

"At least some good things have come out of all this disaster" Knuckles continued " my wish was to know about my kind, and the wishing crystal made it possible for me to see my family again, plus other echidnas, including you,"

"Get well soon Knuckles" said Julie-Su, after planting a kiss on Knuckles cheek " we'll be waiting,"

As she left though Knuckles inner thoughts were slowly turning sour, as he relived the moment where his father and the rest of Brotherhood had been destroyed by the very gem they were sworn to protect. As the dark image played on Knuckles realized that this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't so easily given up the Master Emerald.

"But I had to save Julie-Su's life" thought Knuckles " I couldn't let her die,"

Yet, part of his mind still wandered, even if she did die, would it have prevented the destruction caused by the Dark Legion? Or would it just mutliply the body count?

* * *

After about two more days of rest, and many more visits from his friends Knuckles was finally able to walk out of the hospital. Just as soon as he walked out a welcoming committee was there to greet him.

"Glad to see you among the living," said Sonic.

"You gave everyone quite a scare," said Shadow.

"Including you?" asked Knuckles.

"Not on your life," said Shadow.

"I hate to brake up the reunion" said Remington to Knuckles " but I have some very important news that I think Knuckles should hear,"

"Bad news or good news?" said Rouge.

"Both," said Remington.

"Okay" said Knuckles " give me the good news first,"

"Good news is not everyone was destroyed during the Master Emeralds rampage" said Remington " I have both Shadow and Rouge to thank for finding the survivors and bringing them in for treatment just in time,"

"And the bad news?" asked Knuckles.

"Unfortunately" said Remington " three Dark Legionarres also seem to have survived. Xenin, Kasmir, and another named Lien-Da. We've been waiting for you to recover before we put the three on trial. Thier fate relies solely on your decision,"

At that news, Julie-Su, Sonic, and the others senses went on high alert. After all that's happened to him these few weeks, Knuckles had an idea on what he should do, but the question remianed, would he?

Two hours later Xenin, Kasmir, and Lien-Da were herded into what was left of the Echidnapolis City Hall. When all three saw Knuckles sitting in the judge's chair they could tell that they were doomed.

"He's probably going to give us all the death penatly," said Xenin.

"After all that we've done to him" said Kasmir " I wouldn't be surprised,"

"He wouldn't kill" said Lien-Da " just lock us up for life,"

"And that's so much better?" said Kasmir.

"Order" said Remington, acting as the baliff " the honored Guardian of Angel Island, Knuckles presiding. Knuckles, the charges againist the defendants are quite clear. Illegal mechanizing of innocent echidnas, cult-like activity, attempting to overthrow Angel Island, and mass murder. What knowledge can you give us so that we can deal with these three?"

Silence gripped the entire room before Knuckles began to speak.

"I know of thier crimes" said Knuckles " but when I learned that I would have responsibilty of judging them for those crimes, the decision was not easy. If I should go with death thier lives would only join those who had already suffered. I cannot let more lives be lost, even if they 'were' Dark Legionarres. Therefore, I have decided to sentence them all to...five years of community service,"

"What?" shouted Sonic, as the Dark Legionarres jumped in surprise at Knuckles decision.

"Hold on" said Xenin to Knuckles " why are letting us go with such a light punishment?"

"The war is over" said Knuckles " its time for the Dark Legion and Echidnapolis to aside thier differences and learn to become one. Although the causualties are hard to over come, all past afflictions must be forgotten for us to move on and create a new era of peace. That is why Kasmir, Xenin, and Lien-Da your first act of community service is building a memorial to honor 'all' who have lost thier lives during this war. Be happy that I did not go the other way around,"


	12. Chapter 12: The Last Prophecy

**Ch.12: The Last Prophecy**

Days passed after the trial, and the former Dark Legionarre's worked on building the memorial as Knuckles demanded. A ceremony was set to occur a few days later after the memorial was finished, to honor all of those who had lost thier lives.

Names that where engraved upon the memorial were both the ones from Echidnapolis and the Dark Legion, signaling to everyone that in the end all of them were equal, and had to remian that way.

The day the ceremony was about to begin Julie-Su, Sonic and the others arrived early in order to comfort Knuckles, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where is he?" said Sonic.

"Maybe he's at the alter," said Julie-Su.

"Come on, let's go," said Tails.

Together all three of them arrived at the Master Emerald's alter, and lo and behold, Knuckles was there. His sad voilet eyes appeared to be caught in a trance and moved one of his hands up and down the Emerald's smooth surface. The echidna didn't even know his friends were there.

" My wish may be granted" said Knuckles " but one question remians. What should I do now?"

_" I think your the only one who can answer that my son,"_ said Locke's seemingly distant voice.

"Knuckles?" said Sonic, interrupting his friend's thoughts.

"Things may be restored" said Knuckles, breaking out of his trance and noticing his friends " but my curse lives on. I am the last Guardian of Angel Island, and I will continue to guard it, alone if I have to,"

"No" said Julie-Su, grabbing Knuckles hand " not alone. Not ever again,"

"That's right" said Vector, with the rest of the Chaotix following him from behind " we got your back Knux. The Chaotix and its newest member are here to stay,"

"Newest member?" asked Tails.

"Yeah, you see...uh...well," stuttered Vector.

"Julie-Su is a proud new member of Team Chaotix," said Charmy.

"She is?" said Sonic " but I thought Vector didn't like her much?"

"Yeah, well minds change" said Espio " especially when you have Knuckles girlfriend to thank for saving your life,"

"Shut up before I clobber you!" yelled Vector at Espio.

"Alright that's enough" said Julie-Su after a fit of laughter " we have a ceremony to get to, so let's go,"

Later everyone gathered at the memorial stone to pay thier last respects to dead. After a moment of silence had passed Knuckles walked up to everyone gathered and spoke.

"All throughout history" said Knuckles " there have different tribes going out to the war, each looking forward to declare victory over thier opponents. But at what cost? Look how much blood was split just recently, and ask yourselves can you really cliam victory? In the end there are no winners, only death and destruction"

"There is nothing we can do to change the past, all we can do is build ourselves towards a better future. In honor of all of those that I have died here today, put your predjucices aside, and ready yourselves for new era of peace,"

Everyone appludded, and after the ceremony Sonic and the others congradulated Knuckles on giving a fantastic speech.

"Its not going to be easy to rebuild this place" said Knuckles, looking at the ruins of Echidnapolis " but we're going to try. Oh and Sonic, I got something special to say to you,"

"What's that?" asked Sonic.

"Thanks," said Knuckles.

"No problem Knux" said Sonic, after a moment of being shocked " no problem at all,"

* * *

Meanwhile, in limbo, the Ancient Walkers smiled down as they watched Knuckles and his friends cheer each other up on this most saddest of days. Together the three tiki masks spoke...

_"In time all wounds will be repiared,_

_The future awaits, no need to be scared._

_Happiness will soon fill your life once more,_

_Now that we have reached the end of the war,"_

**The End **


End file.
